DRIVING THE DAY

BREXIT SCOOP: NEVER-ENDING TALKS: Britain has asked the European Commission to ditch the current “one week on, three weeks off” negotiation structure in a bid to break the deadlock over the Brexit divorce bill, POLITICO reports today. Two senior officials at DExEU said they have requested continuous talks in Brussels starting September 18 and then rolling week-to-week until a breakthrough is achieved.

Policy avalanche: U.K. ministers plan to publish three white papers in the next fortnight that will give us the clearest insight yet into life after Brexit, writes our Westminster chief Tom McTague. They will cover immigration, customs and trade — three of the biggest issues the nation must address after March 2019.

And there’s more: Ministers also plan to publish four more position papers on their negotiating stance before parliament goes back into recess at the end of next week. A fifth, on the future of Britain’s financial services sector, is also imminent. The first four will include two on security, one on trade, and one on scientific research. Henry Zeffman in the Times says the latter will be published this Wednesday and include an offer to pay £1bn-a-year to stay in EU science programs.

Takeaway: The British side are desperate to inject urgency into the talks and dispel the notion they have wasted much of the past year.

**A message from Lloyds Banking Group: Lloyds Banking Group is helping Britain prosper. We are committed to helping Britain build, trade and grow. Find out more by visiting www.lloydsbankinggroup.com.**

ABOUT THAT DIVORCE BILL: Speaking exclusively to POLITICO last night, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said it is “complete nonsense” to suggest the U.K. government has privately agreed a Brexit bill figure. He was unimpressed with Sunday newspaper reports that Britain is ready to pay a £50 billion bill once the Tory conference is out of the way. “The idea that we have internally or otherwise agreed a figure is nonsense,” Fox told us. “It’s complete nonsense. We will examine line by line the arguments the EU puts forward, but neither internally, nor at any point privately, has anyone agreed to such a figure.”

Fox veto: The trade secretary said any deal on money would have to be agreed by the Brexit cabinet sub-committee on which he and other leading Euroskeptic ministers sit. And he insisted there has yet to be any discussion at cabinet level about the Brexit fee. “Once DExEU have done their work on this, we would want to discuss it — and we have had no such discussion and there has been no such agreement,” he said.

For Fox sake: The cabinet minister also took aim at those colleagues who gave the anonymous briefings to the Sunday press. “This is an important part of our negotiations, and we should be discussing that through the appropriate structures in government and not on the front pages of newspapers,” he said.

More pushback: Officials in DExEU are also hitting back hard at any suggestion the bill has been agreed. “We haven’t decided on some number. That is just not where we are at this stage in the process,” a senior official told Playbook last night. “And I very much doubt we would come out and say ‘this is our offer.'” Watch this space.

ICYMI last night: On BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour, Labour MP David Lammy braved the wrath of the Brexiteers by saying Michel Barnier was “probably right” to suggest the British public need “educating” about Brexit, and warned Britain cannot “wriggle away” from paying a “big bill” to the EU. But former Tory Chief Whip Mark Harper insisted Britain should not “finalize a number of any description until we’ve got a trade deal.”

GET USED TO ALL THIS: Brexit is set to dominate parliament’s first week back after the summer. David Davis will give an oral statement in the Commons tomorrow afternoon, and Brexit is certain to feature heavily at PMQs on Wednesday. Davis will then face off against Keir Starmer at DExEU questions on Thursday morning, before opening the second reading of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill later that same day. Crunch votes come next Monday night — although Labour sources do not believe they have the numbers to win.

OVERSHADOWING IT ALL

NORTH KOREA LATEST: Almost every newspaper carries the North Korea crisis on its front page this morning after yesterday’s huge nuclear test. You can read the verdict of seismologists in Norway here. Theresa May called “urgently” for new sanctions on Pyongyang — see her full statement here. U.S. Secretary of State for Defense James Mattis warned of a “massive military response” to any threat to America. Donald Trump lashed out at South Korea on Twitter and threatened to cut all trade with China. Asked by reporters if he would attack North Korea, Trump replied: “We’ll see.”

Not impressed: There’s a thoughtful Twitter thread here from a former (Democrat) national security adviser on why Trump is handling this wrong.

What happens next? The UN Security Council will meet at 3 p.m. U.K time today to discuss its response. Michelle Nichols at Reuters says new sanctions could include banning Pyongyang’s textile exports and the North Koreans national airline; stopping supplies of oil to the government and military; preventing North Koreans from working abroad; and slapping top officials with an asset freeze and travel ban.

WELCOME TO LONDON PLAYBOOK

Hello and thanks for signing up for the first London Playbook. My name is Jack Blanchard and my job is to give you everything you need to know about the day ahead in Westminster — direct to your inbox before 7 a.m. each weekday morning. The plan is to break big stories and interviews while bringing you up to speed on the coming day in politics. And because the world doesn’t stop outside the Westminster bubble, I’ll try to pick out the best lines from beyond the M25, and from further afield in Washington and Brussels too. Hopefully I’ll figure out the whole sleeping thing as I go along.

TODAY IN WESTMINSTER

GOODBYE SUMMER: Today is the final day of the summer recess — Parliament returns tomorrow at 2.30 p.m. Downing Street will still hold its regular morning lobby briefing at 11 a.m. today.

COMING THIS AUTUMN: Theresa May and Philip Hammond have agreed to lift the 1 percent public sector pay cap in the budget this autumn, Tom Newton Dunn reports in the Sun. He quotes a senior Whitehall source as saying nurses, and possibly other public sector workers, will get pay rises in line with inflation from April. Heather Stewart in the Guardian says a big new Tory pitch on housing could come later this month.

IN THE MEANTIME: MPs are slowly making their way back to London, but the plots against the prime minister are already underway. The Sunday papers were full of great color following Theresa May’s surprisingly bullish comments about her future in Japan last week. The best of it was this must-read by Sunday Times Political Editor Tim Shipman, who reckons there are 25 names on the list of Tory MPs who want May to go now. The magic number to trigger a leadership contest is 48.

WHERE THEY ARE PLOTTING: A Playbook mole has spotted subtle changes to the Adjournment restaurant in Portcullis House. The glass-fronted dining spot has long been parliament’s most notorious goldfish bowl — Amber Rudd and Andrea Leadsom had a very public make-up lunch there after the EU referendum. But panes of frosted glass have now been installed across the front of the restaurant as part of a summer refurb to stop passing whips — and hacks — from easily seeing who is plotting with whom.

DEFINITELY NOT PLOTTING: Boris Johnson hosts the foreign ministers of eight Baltic and Nordic nations for a working dinner in London tonight. Johnson will tell his counterparts from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland that Britain will “stand by its allies” in the face of Russian aggression. Johnson will be keen to show some diplomatic gravitas after his pasting last week from the Times’ Rachel Sylvester.

RESHUFFLE GOSSIP: Boris could be demoted to Tory party chairman as part of a reshuffle to keep the Tory rebels on their toes, Matt Chorley reports in a front-pager for the Times. Chorley is also tipping leadership prospects Jacob Rees-Mogg, Tom Tugendhat and Johnny Mercer for ministerial jobs but says the reshuffle has been delayed until beyond next month.

FRIENDS IN THE NORTH: Philip Hammond will tour the north of England today for meetings with the new metro mayors of Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Tees Valley. The Chancellor hopes to show critics — like his predecessor — that the Treasury remains committed to the Northern Powerhouse project.

ABOUT THAT POWERHOUSE: A report from the Local Government Association this morning warns of “devolution deadlock” under Hammond’s leadership. The LGA says progress on devolving power from Whitehall has “stalled,” with no new deals announced for 18 months despite many areas being keen to press forward.

ALSO ON TOUR TODAY: First Secretary of State Damian Green and Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns are in Cardiff for what are likely to be fraught Brexit discussions with Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones… International Trade Minister Greg Hands is in Edinburgh to announce a new foreign investment deal… Police and Fire Minister Nick Hurd is speaking at the Police Superintendents’ Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon.

CLOSER TO HOME: John McDonnell is expected to be among the speakers at the first ever strike by McDonald’s U.K. staff. Employees from two branches are striking over pay and conditions, and the BFAWU bakers’ union has organized a rally outside parliament from 10.30 a.m. Jeremy Corbyn has offered words of support, but his office told Playbook he will not be attending.

OSBORNE V MARR: George Osborne is in conversation with Andrew Marr at a Media Society event at the Corinthia Hotel tonight. All tickets are sold out.

A NEW DAWN HAS BROKEN, HAS IT NOT? Politics junkies with understanding bosses may wish to switch on BBC Parliament at 9 a.m. — and leave it on for the rest of the day. The channel is re-running all 14 hours of the BBC’s live coverage from the 1997 general election night.

The Portillo moment came at 3.10 a.m. on the night. So presumably you can expect it on BBC Parliament shortly after 2 p.m. this afternoon.

ALSO WORTH WATCHING:Panorama (BBC One, 9 p.m.) goes undercover tonight at a Home Office immigration center. Nine G4S staff have been suspended over claims they were filmed “mocking, abusing and even assaulting” detainees. And Channel 4 has a decent-looking documentary at 11.05 p.m. on life along the Mexican border since Donald Trump was elected.

PICK OF TODAY’S COMMENTARY

Key line: “The ascent of May and Corbyn, and the dearth of popular candidates to replace them, suggests something that feels rather rude but important to state: overall, the caliber of MPs is not as we would wish it to be.”

Key line: “The biggest arguments in divorce cases are almost always about the money. The needs of the children tend to be cast aside.”

BEYOND THE M25

ON THE BUSES: Manchester mayor Andy Burnham introduces half-price bus travel for all 16-18-year-olds today. He has vowed to eventually provide free travel for all young people in the region. The Manchester Evening News has the story.

FIRTH AMONG EQUALS: The Queen will officially open the new Queensferry Crossing in Scotland today. The £1.4bn bridge across the Firth of Forth is the largest of its kind in the world. Nicola Sturgeon will also address the crowds at 11 a.m. today, the BBC reports.

And from Berlin:

TV DUEL: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and SPD leader Martin Schulz squared off last night in their only head-to-head TV debate of the German election campaign. Read the verdict of POLITICO’s man in Berlin Matthew Karnitschnig here. Polling day is September 24.

And from DC:

YES, ANOTHER ONE: Could another Kennedy be the right man to take on Donald Trump? POLITICO’s Heather Caygle profiles 36-year-old Congressman Joe Kennedy, the grandson of the late Robert F. Kennedy.

LONDON CALLING

Westminster weather: ☁️☁️☁️ Cloudy and muggy with highs of 21C. August is long gone.

Southern travel chaos: RMT staff at Southern Rail are on strike again today. Southern reckons many services will continue as normal, but some peak hour trains are off and the West London Line is closed. Updates here.

Londoners might like: “London Symphony,” a 72-minute eulogy to London released at selected cinemas yesterday. Playbook was lucky enough to catch the screening at the Barbican, where the soundtrack was performed live by the Covent Garden Sinfonia. Here’s a trailer.

Silence in the city: It’s a silent movie in the style of the great “City Symphonies” of the past. Director Alex Barrett shot the stunning black-and-white footage in more than 300 locations across London, much of it familiar — there are some lovely atmospheric shots inside Westminster tube station — and much of it not. Stylish and highly recommended.

Spotted over the weekend: Former Ed Miliband adviser Lord Stewart Wood at the End of the Road music festival in Dorset… Mayor Sadiq Khan at the London Mela, Europe’s largest south Asian festival… Minister for Digital Matt Hancock bagging first prize in a baking competition at his local fete.

New starts: Andy Gregory joins the lobby today as the new Political Editor of the Daily Mirror. Playbook is sure he’ll be better than that last guy… Stephen Phipson, a senior official in the Department for International Trade, has been appointed chief executive of manufacturers’ organization EEF. He will take up the role on December 1.

Moving on: One of regional journalism’s most respected political hacks, Yorkshire Post Political Editor James Reed, is off to pastures new. Job ad here.

Congratulations to: Former Corbyn staffer Jack Smith just got engaged to Unite official Carly French… James Mills, head of communications for John McDonnell, and wife Eve are celebrating the birth of their second daughter, Iris.

Welcome back: Grantham MP Nick Boles was back working in his constituency at the weekend for the first time since his illness and will be back in parliament this week. The very best news of the day.

PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT Kate Day.

THANKS to Tom McTague, Charlie Cooper and Annabelle Dickson.

**A message from Lloyds Banking Group: Lloyds Banking Group is helping Britain prosper. We are committed to helping Britain build, trade and grow. Build: Lending up to £10 billion to help people move into their first home in 2017. Trade: Committed to increasing our business lending by up to £2 billion in 2017. Grow: Aiming to create over 8,000 apprenticeships with permanent employment by 2020. Find out more by visiting www.lloydsbankinggroup.com.**